Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-04
THE FINANCIAL PROBLEM,
Views of Col. John wnIett of Austin, Te1
Washington National View

Views of Col John WilIett of Austin, TeS.
Washington National View.
Silver and gold are as old as civiliza-
ton. Paper money is mo fern, brought
! into use to facilitate tue worlds COM
MERGE What shall be the basis upon
which it rests in the future is the problem
OF our times. TIE enormous public debt
created by the war has been utilized, and
our paper money rests solely upon It,
About half our circulation is non inter
est bearing debt put into circulation by the
government direct; the other half is al
interest bearing debt, which has been
so manipulated tCat private corporations
are the beneticarieS and not the govern
meut. The evils of this system are too
apparent. The interest bearing debt
must be perpttuated in order that the
present system may life. Will taxpayers
stand it? | opine not, when the mist OF
loyalty which has surrounded 1t clears
up. If the government has the right to
renew the life of this system for twenty
years more, scale the interest down
from per cent. to per cent,
it has the right to scale the
debt out of existence by paying the ST.
600 in the control of government, and
close the whole matter up by the govern
ment printing enough of the nOn-inteTest
bearing notes to settle the account IN
full and relieve the people of tais load of
taxation, which accrueS in the interest Of
few. In equity, the man in Dakota, or
the man in Texas, has the same right to
bring his title-dceds here of his wheat
field and cotton plantation, deposit them
with the government, and draw 90 per
cent OF the face value in psper money
made and indorsed by the government,
and issued to them at an annual tax of l
per cent.
Government securities value is buried
up in the ability CT the taX-levying and
collecting power of the government. The
wheat and cotton field represent food and
clothing for the people; their value can
not be ignored. The producing classes
OF the United States will demand legisla-
ton that will sit down upon, without re-
gard to precedence, any privileged class:
The act which brought the present sys-
tenn into existence, taxed state and pri-
vate banks out of existence in the several
states. The states must be allowed to put
into circulation, free from federal taxa
ton, g paper money that will suit them;
on the assumption, taking for example the
British colonies, located IN all parts OF the
world: They have their own colonial
paper money, and its redemption is not
based upon the public debt of England, or
the colonies or the bonds of the United
States.
The coinage of silver by our govern
ment will be simplifed. The miners
from the Western states will go direct
with the silver bullion to the United
States minis and get its value, less cost
of coinage, in coined dollars Or silver GER
without regard to the price of
silver in London, where it is wanted for
shipment to India, coined into rupees and
paid out to the laborer in cotton and
wheat production at about eight cents
per day. England wants cheap silver,
and our government, as it now runs,
seems to be an important factor in re-
ducing the value of cur silver products in
the interest of English merchants, but de-
stroying 20 per cent. of the purchasing
power of our observation-disclosures.